10-23-2012, 02:46 AM
Larry;
I found this video to be very interesting in so far as we never had to go though all of those steps to start ours. It looks to me like this is a procedure that you'd have to go through when the engine has been out of service for some time. All we ever did was to climb into the cab, open the electrical cabinet doors, throw the battery switch, hit the start button, and in a few minutes we were off and running.
Never saw the shop personnel go through all those procedures either, although they may have from time to time and I just wasn't around when they did it. The four 70 ton GE's we had in 1969, FCIN 100, 101 and 102 and MPB 20, all saw frequent use and we usually used two of them MU'd, especially to handle the tonnage to and from the distilleries. The shop crew took care of all the maintenance and kept them in excellent running order; unlike the Pinsly years when they were more concerned about keeping the engines clean than in running condition. The FCIN 70 tonners were all Phase I units, built in 1946 (100) and 1947 (101,102) and were still in top condition when they left the property in the early 1970's.
They were certainly easy to operate and quite powerful with their double reduction gearing. It was surprising just how much tonnage we could handle with them up the grade out of Frankfort. Rail fans tend to think that smaller locomotives equal less pulling power, but that really wasn't the case. The GE's were really nice to switch with, as they would accelerate quickly and were great on some of the tight curves inside the distilleries. Certainly a classic locomotive that revolutionized the short line railroad industry. I always liked the sound of those Cooper-Bessemer engines.
Here's a shot of my favorite No. 102, in the original pre-Pinsly era paint. Paint is showing its age some, but I always liked this scheme much more than the Pinsly scheme:
I found this video to be very interesting in so far as we never had to go though all of those steps to start ours. It looks to me like this is a procedure that you'd have to go through when the engine has been out of service for some time. All we ever did was to climb into the cab, open the electrical cabinet doors, throw the battery switch, hit the start button, and in a few minutes we were off and running.
Never saw the shop personnel go through all those procedures either, although they may have from time to time and I just wasn't around when they did it. The four 70 ton GE's we had in 1969, FCIN 100, 101 and 102 and MPB 20, all saw frequent use and we usually used two of them MU'd, especially to handle the tonnage to and from the distilleries. The shop crew took care of all the maintenance and kept them in excellent running order; unlike the Pinsly years when they were more concerned about keeping the engines clean than in running condition. The FCIN 70 tonners were all Phase I units, built in 1946 (100) and 1947 (101,102) and were still in top condition when they left the property in the early 1970's.
They were certainly easy to operate and quite powerful with their double reduction gearing. It was surprising just how much tonnage we could handle with them up the grade out of Frankfort. Rail fans tend to think that smaller locomotives equal less pulling power, but that really wasn't the case. The GE's were really nice to switch with, as they would accelerate quickly and were great on some of the tight curves inside the distilleries. Certainly a classic locomotive that revolutionized the short line railroad industry. I always liked the sound of those Cooper-Bessemer engines.
Here's a shot of my favorite No. 102, in the original pre-Pinsly era paint. Paint is showing its age some, but I always liked this scheme much more than the Pinsly scheme:
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"